Cardinal Richelieu Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 My dear dotty Canadian aunt has many skills, but using a computer isn't one of them. To be fair, she manages okay for a woman in her mid 70s and she can do a great many things in life that I wouldn't have a clue about. But this thread is about older people who struggle with the modern world. I could probably write a book about my aunt's tribulations with computers and the Internet but off the top of my head: She is forever forgetting her Skype login details, so she just signs up for a new account each time. Despite having a fairly unique name and living in a small town, a cursory search for her in Skype reveals 8 people with her name and town - all accounts she's created in the last decade or so. More infuriating than anything, but any time she's browsing the net and wants to go to a different site, she closes Chrome and reopens it. There's no point in even explaining how to use browser tabs. On visiting me in Scotland, she asked if she could check her email. No probs ... so she takes my laptop, opens Gmail, then wonders why she's looking at a bunch of emails not addressed to her. I explain that she needs to log in her with her own email address and password. "Well how can I be expected to know that?" came the reply. I bought her a Chromecast a few years ago and set it up for her, so she didn't have to watch Netflix on her shitty tablet. She was delighted with it, and I made sure that before I left, she was able to watch Youtube / Netflix on her TV without any involvement from me. Went back the next year and she's back to using the tablet. "Why aren't you watching it on your big telly?" "Well how on earth would you do that?" Sigh. She has a smart-phone, and is quite adept at using Whatsapp. However, she only uses it when she's connected to the Wifi. Indeed, she managed to buy a mobile phone contract with ZERO data, so the first time she ever used data (when I was showing her she could use Google maps to find her way about) she got an additional charge (not a fortune, maybe $10). She was outraged and phoned the mobile phone company and demanded this doesn't happen again. So now she pays $2.50 per month to NOT be able to use mobile data. She is literally choosing to pay to not use a service she'd find useful. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cardinal Richelieu Posted April 14, 2019 Author Share Posted April 14, 2019 When looking at her tablet, she's got the hang of swiping to unlock it or to scroll through pictures. Quite why she needs to it with such gusto that she looks like she's conducting the London Philharmonic is beyond me however. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuro Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 Don't worry she'll be dead soon. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cardinal Richelieu Posted April 14, 2019 Author Share Posted April 14, 2019 2 minutes ago, Snafu said: What's Skype? It's a bit of a dead duck tbh, it used to be ground-breaking, but now there are better alternatives. Of course, convincing my aunt to try any of them is akin to asking her to invent an alternative to oxygen. Still, it's hard not to admire her steadfast and almost fanatical devotion to never install any updates to it - or indeed Windows or any other software she uses. Just now, Kuro said: Don't worry she'll be dead soon. Every time she makes an extravagant purchase or jets off on holiday, she quips about spending my inheritance. All fine by me - it's the $2.50 per month to Bell Telecom to not use the internet that really boils my piss. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuro Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 1 minute ago, Cardinal Richelieu said: It's a bit of a dead duck tbh, it used to be ground-breaking, but now there are better alternatives. Of course, convincing my aunt to try any of them is akin to asking her to invent an alternative to oxygen. Still, it's hard not to admire her steadfast and almost fanatical devotion to never install any updates to it - or indeed Windows or any other software she uses. Every time she makes an extravagant purchase or jets off on holiday, she quips about spending my inheritance. All fine by me - it's the $2.50 per month to Bell Telecom to not use the internet that really boils my piss. We got my grandad a laptop in the last few.years. But he always insisted the router was switched off at the plug when we left, cause the red light made him.nervous. Think he the thought it was going to explode or something. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 35 minutes ago, Cardinal Richelieu said: When looking at her tablet, she's got the hang of swiping to unlock it or to scroll through pictures. Quite why she needs to it with such gusto that she looks like she's conducting the London Philharmonic is beyond me however. Have you ever seen her use a self-service till in a shop? Old people seem fond of waving their items around in front of it then looking round for help, bemused that it hasn't worked. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Danger Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 The bad news is that you’ll all be old one day and struggle with the latest technology. The good news is that when this happens you will provide a source of discussion and amusement for younger folk. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 We got my grandad a laptop in the last few.years. But he always insisted the router was switched off at the plug when we left, cause the red light made him.nervous. Think he the thought it was going to explode or something. One generally becomes competent in touchpad typing before using it to comment on old people in the Old People and Technology thread. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cardinal Richelieu Posted April 14, 2019 Author Share Posted April 14, 2019 14 minutes ago, Granny Danger said: The bad news is that you’ll all be old one day and struggle with the latest technology. The good news is that when this happens you will provide a source of discussion and amusement for younger folk. I don't doubt it and it's started happening already. Stuff like Snapchat and Instagram have passed me by. Interesting that sites like Facebook are already perceived as a social networking site for older people. And on the topic of Facebook... in my aunt's latest Facebook account (she's had at least half a dozen of them as well) she decided to use her laptop webcam to take a profile picture. She didn't like the first one, so she had at least half a dozen more goes until she found one she liked. Of course, each and every picture of her gawping at the camera is now sitting at the bottom of her profile page. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 39 minutes ago, Granny Danger said: The bad news is that you’ll all be old one day and struggle with the latest technology. The good news is that when this happens you will provide a source of discussion and amusement for younger folk. I've reached that stage with phones. Number of times older folks, or people who find out I used to be a tech, ask for help with their cellphones. I don't care. I'm not interested. And I'm going to be utterly fucked in twenty years when everyone's using the damned things to open hardlight holographic doors, or whatever Jetsons' shit folk are doing by then. 27 minutes ago, Cardinal Richelieu said: Interesting that sites like Facebook are already perceived as a social networking site for older people. It was ten years ago too. All the weans were using Bebo and laughing at the Facebook codgers in their twenties. Just realised Bebo's dead, BTW. Mind those horrific nightmare homepages they spawned, and MySpace before them? Jesus wept. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 1 minute ago, BigFatTabbyDave said: cellphones. mods 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 This is the auld person thread. I'll use outdated terminology if I want, young man. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invergowrie arab Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 A lot of very unfair posts here painting all old people with the same brush. It's ageist and patronising. Many older people are very familiar with the latest tech eg Most of the folk in the paper who have downloaded indecent images seem to be 60+ retired head teachers and scoutmasters 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derry Alli Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 Why is she using Skype if she's so used to WhatsApp, why doesn't she just video call through that? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 You can video call through WhatsApp? I'm learning so much already. Bookmarked. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 17 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said: A lot of very unfair posts here painting all old people with the same brush. It's ageist and patronising. Many older people are very familiar with the latest tech eg Most of the folk in the paper who have downloaded indecent images seem to be 60+ retired head teachers and scoutmasters Bit rude to make out Hedgecutter's over 60 m8. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cardinal Richelieu Posted April 14, 2019 Author Share Posted April 14, 2019 39 minutes ago, Dele said: Why is she using Skype if she's so used to WhatsApp, why doesn't she just video call through that? She's not THAT used to it. Plus my sister gets involved (careful now). Are 3-way Whatsapp calls even possible? I don't know. It wasn't this complicated in my day. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 51 minutes ago, BigFatTabbyDave said: This is the auld person thread. I'll use outdated terminology if I want, young man. Doesn't excuse the Americanisms. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The DA Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 11 minutes ago, Miguel Sanchez said: Doesn't excuse the Americanisms. Nothing excuses the Americans. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergeant Wilson Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 It's a good job we could work tanks and machine guns or you'd all be speaking German. Cùnts! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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